England succumbed to an eight-wicket loss in the first T20I against India on Tuesday, but despite that England players were ecstatic after their football team made them proud in the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Argentina skipper Lionel Messi on Saturday announced his retirement from the national team after Argentina were knocked out from FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia following their 2-4 defeat against France.

On this day in 2002, Brazil won a record fifth World Cup, beating the Oliver Kahn-led Germany by two goals to nil in front of 69,029 spectators at the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan. This was the first time these two giants were meeting in a World Cup encounter.

Courtesy of a brace from star man Ronaldo, Brazil didn’t sweat much in beating all-confident German battalion. Brazil, who were led by Cafu, had a perfect start to the tournament, as they won all three of their group stage games, getting the better of the likes of Turkey, Costa Rica and China. Germany, on the other hand, had a tough road to the final as they won two of their three group stage games while drawing one.

Brazil scored two goals in stoppage time as they won 2-0 against Costa Rica in a tight World Cup Group E encounter on Friday. Barcelona attacker Philippe Coutinho scored from six metres in the 91st minute while Neymar scored a tap-in five minutes later to give Brazil all three points.

Though you may feel that it went by quickly, the first round of the group stages of the FIFA World Cup is already over and not just did we have some really high-intensity games, but we also saw some upsets going into the second set of games.

Argentina and their talisman Lionel Messi will embark on yet another attempt to end a long period without a major trophy when they start their World Cup campaign with a Group D match against Iceland at the Spartak Stadium here on Saturday.

The countdown to the World Cup in Russia begins. We are just 50 days away from the biggest footballing extravaganza. Russia has an opportunity to sell itself to the world and as we draw closer to the date – the excitement is there for every football fan to be seen.

EA Sports’ FIFA 18 will once again have its flagship new game mode called ‘The Journey’ after the game mode was appreciated last year. The Journey is a sort of story mode for the game with Alex Hunter as the protagonist. It details Alex’s first season of professional football while including a cinematic experience of cutscenes and progressions.

The Journey is meant to be an in-game depiction of the life of a footballer on and off the field, keeping users in control of Alex from start to finish and popping new challenges as the story progresses. It details personal relationships, his performances on the pitch and his public profile.

The Journey starts with a brief introduction to Alex Hunter’s beginnings in football as a youth, him being picked for trials and then a choice of club for you to pick from. Bigger clubs offer more recognition and money, but the smaller clubs give more playing time.

The Indian football team on Thursday rose to the 96th spot in the latest FIFA rankings, its best-ever in the last two decades and the second best overall. As far as Asia is concerned, India are the 12th highest ranked team in the continent, while Iran lead the chart at the 23rd spot.

India’s best-ever FIFA ranking till date stays 94, which was attained in February 1996, while 99 was India’s second- best, achieved in November 1993. The national team has been on an upsurge with a string of impressive results leading to a climb of 77 places over the last two years.

The team has now won 13 of its last 15 matches and is unbeaten in the last eight games (including the unofficial match against Bhutan). India were ranked 171 when Stephen Constantine took over as national coach for the second time in February 2015 and slipped further to 173rd in March 2015 in the FIFA ladder even before the gaffer could have his first game in charge against Nepal, which India eventually won 2-0 on aggregate.

Congratulating the team, All India Football Federation president Praful Patel said: “It’s a giant leap of faith for Indian football. Two years back, we were 173 and now we have reached our second best FIFA ranking ever. The leap signifies the potential of Indian football. Congratulations to the national team boys, the coach, the staff and all in AIFF.”

AIFF general secretary Kushal Das stated: “This comes as a huge boost ahead of our next AFC Asian Cup qualifying match against Macau on September 5, 2017. Hats off to the team for giving it their all in achieving this milestone. Qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 stays our top priority.”

Confederations Cup champions and reigning world champions Germany have overtaken Brazil to be the top team in the world and are followed by Argentina at third spot, Portugal and Switzerland.

On this day in 2006, the 18th edition of FIFA World Cup kicked off in Germany – the nation which won the right to host the event in July 2000.

As always, 32 teams from 6 confederations qualified for the tournament – took place in 12 different venues across the nation. This tournament was also the second time that Germany hosted the competition with the first being back in 1974 as West Germany. Although Germany failed to win the trophy, the nation experienced a greater sense of patriotism amongst the supporters. It kicked off at Bayern Munich’s home ground Allianz Arena in front of 66,000 spectators with Germany taking on Costa Rica.

Germany’s the manager Jürgen Klinsmann fielded an old school 4-4-2 against Costa Rica’s 5-3-2. In as early as the 6th minute, left-back Philipp Lahm gave his side the lead with a brilliant curler just outside the box. Costa Rica were spot on to respond as just six minutes later, they equalized, courtesy to a goal from Paulo Wanchope.

It didn’t take long for the Germans to take their lead back, with Miroslav Klose scoring the goal. 15 minutes into the second half, the home side extend their advantage with Klose again naming himself on the scoresheet. Just as everyone though it will be an easy win for the Germans, Paulo Wanchope gave Costa Rica a big hope, making in 3-2 in the 73rd minute of the game. The two-goal advantage was yet again restored as midfielder Torsten Frings fired a long-range shot which eventually found the net.

On this day in 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to organise their own global tournament, which eventually came into existence as the World Cup.

The organisation FIFA – which was formed way back on 21 May 1904 – had been previously organising the sport in the Olympic games and in 1908 in the Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition, however, it was only played by the amateur players. In 1914, a tournament called “world football championship for amateurs” was agreed to be played in Olympics and this paved the further path for the sport in this grand event.

And in 1920 Summer Olympics, 13 European teams took part and Belgium emerged victorious. The 1924 and 28 edition was conquered by Uruguay and this later became a huge success and eventually, FIFA’s President Jules Rimet started elaborating the idea of staging FIFA World Cup as the grand event. On 28 May 1928, the news was officially confirmed, hence the term FIFA World Cup came into existence.

With the victory of Mali and Nigeria in the CAF qualifier, the entire list of FIFA Under-17 World Cup, to be held in India, has been prepared. For the first time in India, a tournament of FIFA is being organized which will be played in six different locations from October 6 to 28.

According to the latest release, after the last matches of the group, Mali and Nigeria ensured their participation for their Under-17s. Ghana and Guinea, on the other hand, had already qualified before them. Nigeria defeated Tanzania 1-0 to qualify for the first time in a FIFA tournament. Last year, with the help of the 2016 AFC Under-16 championship, the likes of Iraq, Iran, Japan and North Korea qualified for the tournament and with India being the host country, these five countries will represent Asia from Asia.

The list of all the teams qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup is as follows:

Qatar’s first stadium has finished renovation five years before the World Cup 2022. The Khalifa International Stadium has been open since 1976 but has undergone a major renovation for the tournament in 2022. The stadium is also air-conditioned, which was the major point for the Arabian country’s bid for the tournament.

The stadium has been expanded to more than 40,000 fans and the reported cost of the full renovation is £70 million. The Qatar 2022 organizing committee claims that the in-demand cooling technology will keep the field at a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and the stands at 24-28 degrees Celsius for the entire year; and as part of the country’s energy-saving agenda, it will use 40 percent less energy than other cooling methods.

The stadium will host World Cup matches up until the quarterfinal stage and also host the 2017 Emir Cup final, Qatar’s famous domestic football tournament. Apart from the air-conditioning, the other renovation features include new changing rooms, media tribune, VIP areas, a sports museum, and a new roof design. The stadium has hosted many tournaments previous to its renovation, including the 1992 Gulf Cup where the home country emerged victors. The stadium is also scheduled to host the 2019 World Athletics Championship.

The FIFA U-17 World Cup which will take place in India from 6th October-28th October in 2017, might see Cristiano Ronaldo arriving in India for the draw in Mumbai on July 7. If that happens, it’ll be one of the biggest achievements in Indian football, bringing in arguably one of the current best footballers to set his foot on Indian soil.

Speaking on the possibility to media, AIFF President Praful Patel said, “We are talking to Portugal Football Federation. We also are trying to interact with Ronaldo’s agent. If he is free on that particular day, he will be gracing the FIFA U-17 World Cup draw function in Mumbai on July 7.”

Messi-less Argentina were handed a shocker in their World Cup qualifying campaign as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at hands of Bolivia.

Their skipper, Lionel Messi, was given a four-match ban yesterday after he foul-mouthed a match official in their 1-0 win over Chile. As per Goal, the Barcelona ace screamed “F*** off, your mother’s c***,” to the official and eventually refused to shake hands with him at the end of the game.

International break always brings a fear of injury and Everton’s manager Ronal Koeman has been handed a huge blow as his defender Seamus Coleman was limped off the field during Republic of Ireland’s 0-0 draw against Wales on Friday.

The 28-year-old was a victim of a horrifying tackle from Aston Villa’s Neil Taylor, who was shown a straight red after the incident. The Everton right-back was seen in immense discomfort as his physios were attempted to hold his lower-right leg in place. He was eventually taken off on a stretcher in the 68t minute of the game and received oxygen while being sent straight to the hospital.

29-year-old shot-stopper Joe Hart will captain the England side for the World Cup’s qualifier game against Lithuania at Wembley on Sunday.

The Manchester City loanee has played all four of England’s qualifying matches in the competition and was also present in their friendlies against Spain and Germany. He is one of the most senior members in the squad and is unarguably one of the most important members as well, but he fears that his national stint could end in a blink of an eye.

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